Leslie Nestor Miranda/FilmMagic(TEXAS) — Larry McMurtry, who wrote the Pulitzer-winning Western novel Lonesome Dove and adapted Anne Proulx’s groundbreaking same-sex cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain for the big screen, has died. 

The Hollywood Reporter notes the prolific author was 84. 

Lonesome Dove became a miniseries that earned 18 Emmy nominations and six wins back in 1989; the production also scored two Golden Globes and four nominations. 

Brokeback Mountain earned McMurtry and co-writer Diana Ossana a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, a Best Director win for Ang Lee, as well as a host of nominations, including Best Picture, and Oscar nominations in both the lead and supporting actor and actress categories for, respectively, the late Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Michelle Williams.

The film also rode off into the sunset with a collection of other awards, including BAFTAs, and the coveted Golden Lion at Cannes.

Some of McMurtry’s other novels were also adapted into Oscar-winning classics like The Last Picture Show and Terms of Endearment.

He was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama in 2015.

By Stephen Iervolino
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